ken_soepangkatWHY MANTA POINT AND HOW TO GET THERE
Manta Point, one of the must-see dive site in Nusa Penida. Can be reached from Nusa Lembongan, Nusa Penida or Sanur Bali, this dive site is more suitable for experience divers, given its choppy and cold water. Allow around 50 minutes to get to Manta Point, and preserve yourself from getting seasick. Tip: just stare at the horizon and you’ll be fine). Take a giant stride or back roll from the boat, and you will be welcomed by a sudden drop of temperature that would make you gasp and need several minutes to adjust your body temperature before diving. From hot and sweaty temperature at the boat around 30 – 35Β°C to a sudden drop of 23Β°C is quite a different.
Manta Point is a cleaning station for manta ray, where manta ray swim around coral heads in around 7 meter depth so cleaner fish remove bacteria and other parasitic microorganisms. To do this cleaning process, a colony of manta will need to swim around the cleaning station. This few minutes of cleaning makes a spectacular attraction for divers.
Our first dive trip to Manta Point was in December 2019, and honestly it didn’t give us the ‘wow’ experience that we looked for. The water was green from algae and murky, the site was full of boats and divers. Our group of 3 divers could only see 2 mantas swam fast, and that was the only manta sight we had on that dive.
Last October 2021, we decided to give Manta Point another try. We were in diving honeymoon in Bali. After amazing dives at Tulamben and Amed, made a last minute decision to spend our last dive at Manta Point.
We left Mimpi Resort Tulamben at 5am, and arrived at Sanur at 7ish, giving us time for a quick breakkie at one of the beach front cafes in Sanur. The tide was out at 9am, so we took a walk to the rental boat. It was a quiet morning, no divers in sight. Only a few domestic and international tourists walking at the beach.
We have the boat for our group only. A small group of my husband and me, plus Mocco, our divemaster. The boat is big enough for 10 divers. Even only having the three of us, they still provide 1 crew to help the skipper and us to sort out our diving gear. Having the boat for ourselves, leaving us with plenty of room on the boat for us. We can have a smoke and chat at the back or have a shut-eye inside the boat. It even has its own toilet and sound system πΆ
After a quick briefing from Mocco and the skipper, we’re off! It wasn’t long for me until I feel choppy the water was. I regretted the big breakfast that I just had back at the beach, but luckily I could keep it inside π€’. I was so relieved when we finally arrive at Manta Point site.
In October 2021, Indonesia was still under PPKM level 3 for covid and had a lot of covid travel restrictions. We weren’t that surprise to find no other boats were in sight that morning. It was a huge different from back in December 2019, when the water was full of water and it was hard to dive without bumping to other divers.
THE BOAT TRIP
The crew quickly helped us getting our gear on, while the skipper checks the water. When he shouted that he could see several mantas, we doubled our speed in getting the gear. We just didn’t want to loose the opportunity while mantas were still on sight. Mocco and my husband jumped in first, and I really want to throw bricks at them when I was hit by a jolt of cold water when I did my back roll.
I could hear them laughing, cause they must have felt how cold the water was when they jumped. Getting cold easily, I always wear full wet suit, and that day I was wearing 4 layers of wetsuit. Rash guard, two piece wetsuit, a hoodie and a shortie. And I was still cold! I take a look at my dive comp and it shows 23Β°C.
After adjusting our body temperatures, we all gave ππ»sign, and dive in.
DIVE OF A LIFETIME
In less than 5 minutes, we were awarded with a sight of a lifetime.
It wasn’t just one, two or three. There must be around 12 to 20 of mantas, dancing, swirling and circling the reef in all shapes, spots and sizes. They don’t seem to notice or mind with our bubbles, and just keep on doing their cleaning rituals.
In our mask, we could hear all of us screaming, and we stare at each other in disbelief. How could we be so lucky to see this spectacle of nature before our eyes. Just the three of us, no other divers.
In the midst of all that excitement, we knew that we might not have this kind of experience again in our lifetime. We knew, that we need to treasure that few minutes in our best memories to cherish and tell to our children, grandchildren, family and friends for many years to come.
It was pure nature magic.
Covid, with all the lost, pain and anger brought to human lives, spare nature lives and give it another chance. With almost no divers since early 2020, the manta ray’s cleaning ritual becomes a nature’s ritual once again.
